Goodbye Mod team, I'm a mere mortal again

Question

First, the tl;dr: Starting today, I am no longer a community moderator on Super User.

Over the past weeks, I've made the decision to step down as a moderator. I was elected on July 24, 2012, and it's been a bit more than three years that I've been part of an awesome moderator team. Countless flags have been handled since then, and many discussions have been made here, on Meta.

I was—and still am—very enthusiastic to lead this community by example, providing guidance to new and old members alike, with the goal to make this site the number one resource for finding help to any kind of computer issue people may have. At the same time, being a moderator allowed me to learn how to communicate online, how to encourage, to arbitrate, to guide.

However, in the last months I've noticed that my personal circumstances changed. Not for worse—quite the contrary. I've moved places, started a new job, and I'm pursuing a PhD in computer science. But at the same time, these circumstances just do not allow me to invest the time I personally think is necessary for me to keep up to date with what's going on at Super User, our users—our community—and Stack Exchange at large. This is why I've resigned. I just could not handle as many flags as I think were needed. I just could not follow what was going on. I felt like I lost touch with the community in general. Simply because there was too little time I could spend.

It's important to mention that there has been absolutely no pressure whatsoever from my fellow moderators or the Stack Exchange community team. There has been no dispute that caused this. Some might think there are expectations for moderators to handle X flags every month, destroy Y spammers, and close Z posts. Some might even have those expectations (although I've yet to find this person). You could argue that I stepped back because I could not fulfill those expectations. But it's not like that.

There's a lot of respect for the work all of us volunteers do, and it's fine if moderators don't contribute as much as others, or as much as they used to at some point. This was a purely personal decision, because I think I cannot live up to my own standards that I set over those past years.

I'm leaving the mod team and giving the diamond back, but I will continue to be a regular user. I'll be happy to edit posts, answer questions, and occasionally track down spammers, if time allows to. I don't see myself ever leaving this community, for I've learned so much from it—and there's still much more to learn.

With this I want to thank every community member for their support, for their contributions, which make this site one of my absolute favorite places on the Internet. And of course, a warm-hearted Thank You! to all of the other mods, who will continue to lead the SU community: Daniel, Ivo, Journeyman Geek, Mokubai, Nathan, Oliver, random, Sathya, and studiohack.

I will see you around!

<3

Answer 1

slhck is an awesome person, was an awesome mod, and his contributions to the community will be remembered and endure for a very long time, helping countless other users fix their temperamental broken software.... especially ffmpeg. ;-)

He also helped me grow as a person and as a community member during my formative first few months on SU.

Looking forward to continued ffmpeg answers from slhck while he pursues his PhD.

Thanks, man. Can we call you "Dr. slhck" when you get your plaque? ;-)

Answer 2

It hurts my eyes to see the letters “slhck ” without the little rhombus (a.k.a. diamond) after them — but better that than to have you disappear altogether.  Thanks for your service, and good luck with your “personal circumstances”.

Answer 3

I remember you were one of our more active mods, but your activity has been down recently and it's sad to see you give up the diamond. You've been very helpful to the community as well as to me personally, and I do owe you a significant debt for your work.

slhck, good luck on your future endeavors, and I hope you continue to contribute to this site. We miss you as a mod.

Answer 4

You don't know me but I know you; because you helped me a lot without with your answers.
And I'm not the only person like that.
Let me thank you by the name of all unknown users for the huge work you have done here.
Men, helping people without knowing them is something that few people can do!
And you did it day by day, night by night, making SU better and better place for all of us.

Thank you for the heroic job you have done. Thank you for your answers. Thank you.
Hope FFMpeg tag will stay alive ;) Hope to see you ♦ again!